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Archive for December 15th, 2010
US sues BP, eight others to cover cleanup, losses from Gulf oil spill
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 15th, 2010
Christian Science Monitor: The Justice Department filed suit on Wednesday against BP Exploration and Production Inc. and eight other companies, seeking unlimited payments to cover ongoing cleanup costs and economic losses from the massive offshore oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The civil complaint, filed in federal court in New Orleans, alleges that BP and others violated federal safety regulations and that those violations caused or contributed to the April 20 explosion and the oil spill that continued for nearly three...
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Regulation is deficient in Canada’s oil sands: study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 15th, 2010
Reuters: Reclamation in Canada's oil sands is not keeping pace with rapid development and that could leave the public vulnerable to major financial burdens in years to come, a scientific panel said Wednesday. The study by Royal Society of Canada scientists, the latest report on the effects of the country's multibillion-dollar oil sands sector, also concluded that governments and regulators are lagging world standards in their ability to oversee the industry and monitor its environmental impact. "Current...
US sues BP, 8 other companies in Gulf oil spill
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 15th, 2010
Associated Press: The Justice Department on Wednesday sued BP and eight other companies in the Gulf oil spill disaster in an effort to recover billions of dollars from the largest offshore spill in U.S. history.
The Obama administration's lawsuit asks that the companies be held liable without limitation under the Oil Pollution Act for all removal costs and damages caused by the oil spill, including damages to natural resources. The lawsuit also seeks civil penalties under the Clean Water Act.
"We intend to prove...
Federal Investigators Find Oil Industry Failing to Learn From Past Disasters
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 15th, 2010
Greenwire: Independent federal experts investigating the blowout aboard the Deepwater Horizon offshore rig are finding major parallels between this year's disaster and a 2005 blast that killed 15 workers at a BP PLC refinery in Texas -- indicating the industry has failed to overhaul safety rules, they said today.
The Chemical Safety Board (CSB), a 20-year-old agency created to examine industrial accidents, is inquiring into the demise of the now-infamous Gulf of Mexico rig alongside the Interior Department...
Obama administration sues BP, others over Gulf spill
Posted by on December 15th, 2010
Reuters: The Obama administration on Wednesday launched a legal battle against BP Plc and its partners by suing them for the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, which could cost the companies billions of dollars.
The lawsuit seeks damages from the well owners BP, Anadarko Petroleum Corp and Mitsui & Co Ltd unit MOEX, and well driller Transocean Ltd and its insurer QBE Underwriting/Lloyd's Syndicate 1036, part of Lloyds of London, for their roles in the Gulf of Mexico disaster.
"While today's civil...
US sues BP, eight others over Gulf oil spill
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 15th, 2010
Agence France-Presse: The United States filed suit Wednesday for the first time against BP and eight other companies for uncounted billions of dollars in damages from a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the worst in US history.
The complaint was filed by the Justice Department with a federal court in New Orleans, where thousands of individuals and small businesses have already sued the oil giant.
Attorney General Eric Holder said the complaint alleges that "violations of safety and operational regulations"...
Climate Change Affecting Toad, Salamander Breeding Cycle
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 15th, 2010
redOrbit: Researchers reported on Tuesday that climate change is affecting the breeding cycles of toads and salamanders.
They documented that two species were breeding later in the autumn than in years past, and two others were breeding earlier in the winter.
Their study adds to a growing body of evidence that climate change is affecting animals.
Other studies have found that some birds in North America and Europe are moving northwards as temperatures rise.
Brian Todd of the University of California,...
United States: How to Choose Between Fish and Farmers?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 15th, 2010
New York Times: A judge ruled that a plan to protect the delta smelt, seen through a microscope, is too restrictive.
It is safe to say that the fight over the tiny delta smelt has few rivals in the annals of drawn-out endangered species controversies -- and this for a fish that is not even formally listed as endangered. On federal and state lists, the fish, which spends its time in the brackish waters of the San Francisco Bay Delta, is merely threatened.
But like the Pacific Northwest`s spotted owl in the...
Australia: Rising sea a billion-dollar threat
Posted by Age: Tom Arup on December 15th, 2010
Age: MELBOURNE suburbs will be inundated regularly because of climate-change-driven sea-level rises, threatening billions of dollars in damage to homes and community infrastructure by the end of the century, new projections show.
In the first detailed attempt to study the impact of sea-level rises on low-lying coastal areas, the federal government has released high resolution maps showing which areas will be inundated across parts of the Victorian coast, in an effort to help local government planning....
China: Dry years produce more females
Posted by Cosmos: Ben Bravery on December 15th, 2010
Cosmos: During the drier years, wild monkeys in China have more female babies than male, revealing how climate change might affect primates, said Chinese researchers.
Jiqi Lu from Zhengzhou University has been studying the group of wild rhesus macaques – a short-tailed old world monkey – for seven years and presented his observations on changing sex ratios at a recent Chinese Academy of Sciences meeting on climate change held in Kunming, China.
"We have found a relationship whereby in drier years more...